


Beloved Hero

by LaCacciatrice



Category: DC Cinematic Universe, DCU, Justice League (2017)
Genre: (not really but this was supposed to be longer), Gen, Incomplete, barry allen is a sweetheart, central city love their hero, these guys are my trinity now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 07:23:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13026087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaCacciatrice/pseuds/LaCacciatrice
Summary: "The fastest man alive was always late, because he stopped to befriend the people he saved." -Hal Jordan





	Beloved Hero

**Author's Note:**

> My grammar is terrible, this is stupid and I am drunk. I am sorry! Btw, unfinished work.. again.

Victor and Arthur were the only ones in Hall of Justice when a blue-white lightning cackled around the ex-Wayne mansion's corridors. Victor and Arthur were slowly warming up to each other though both were too stubborn to admit it. Victor didn't have a problem with others, he wasn't hard to get along with however when it comes to Arthur, Victor was still bitter sometimes. And Arthur, despite being a king, could act childish. 

However, when Barry walked into the kitchen with a huge grin on his face, the one that he gets when he has a very exciting (by his standards, Bruce would say) story to share, he saw Arthur preparing himself a huge sandwich with a bottle of vodka and Victor was reading a book.

Barry stopped for a second, studying both of them and admiring how calm they were around each other now. This was also enough to excite him. He was right after all. Arthur could make fun of him as much as he wanted. Team was becoming a family.

His smile grew bigger with this thought as he slowed down to normal human speed. If it was a couple of months ago, both Victor and Arthur would look at him angrily and complain about him coming out of nowhere. Barry would apologize, stroking the back of his neck guiltily. But they were used to the hyperactive speedster, blue-white lightning and sudden appearances. They didn't even flinch this time.

"Guysyouwontbelievewhatjusthappened—" Arthur looked at him over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow to show that he didn't get a word. Barry took a deep breath and showed Arthur one of his 'I get it I was speaking too fast again oops' grins. Guys, you won't believe what just happened!"  

"You asked that girl out?" Arthur said amusedly.

"What girl? You mean I—Wait! How do you even know her—Who told—Victor, why?!" Victor gave him an innocent shrug. Barry swallowed down the bitterness of betrayal and tried to calm down. "No, no, it's nothing like that."

"Did you find a real job?" Arthur tried again. Barry looked at him like he just said the most offensive thing ever.

"Excuse me? I already have real job at crime lab now." He looked down uncertainly and added. "Thanks to Bruce."

"It was all you, Barry." Victor interrupted their conversation. "Sometimes you just need a bit push and that's what Bruce did."

"Thank you, Victor." Arthur rolled his eyes and took a bite from his sandwich, ranch sauce was dripping on the counter. Barry grimaced and wondered if it's what his eating looks like to other people. 

"Just stop dancing around it and tell us, kid. Or I am leaving." Barry lifted his hands in case Arthur was actually thinking of leaving but he stayed on the same spot and took another bite.

"Okay, okay!" He spoke quickly. "I saved a kid today."

"That's it?" Arthur looked at him with a blank expression on his face. "That is the story?" Victor looked up at Arthur from where he was sitting and frowned. Arthur wasn't as much of an asshole as he would like to think but he was still an asshole. 

"Shut up, man. That is good enough for me, Barry."

"But that is not the whole story." Barry complained. "Listen, there was thing one kid who was late to school so he was running really fast and he didn't see that car so I had to grab him and took him to safety. And when I slowed down and put him on his feet, he looked up at me like... Like... I was someone important?" Barry's expression turned from happy to surprised, like, even he couldn't believe what he was saying. "His eyes were so wide and when he tried to talk to me, he stuttered."

"That's pretty nice, Barry." Victor said, as polite as ever. It was a cute story. And they all knew Barry's issues. The lack of love, care and support. That's why little things like this story made him so happy. Even Arthur couldn't find it in himself to make fun of him.

"That's not even the best part." Barry added excitedly. "He called me with my name. He knew who I was!"

"He called you 'Barry'?" Victor asked worriedly. It was all cute and nice but they couldn't have a civilian knowing their secret identities. Even if it's just a child. That would cause so many issues. UN were already breathing down their neck despite their positive public image. 

"No?" Barry frowned. "I am talking about my superhero identity."

"Superhero identity." Arthur couldn't stop himself and laughed, almost choking on his food. Barry tried to ignore him.

"He called me 'Flash'. How cool is that?!" 

"Flash is a terrible name." Arthur said. Barry, being finally more comfortable around Arthur and knowing that he won't actually hurt him, dared to roll his eyes at the older man.

"People call you 'Aquaman'." Victor added amusedly. "I don't think you are one to talk."

"Alright,  _Cyborg_." Arthur said sarcastically. Victor finally turned toward him and glared.

"Hey, man, I didn't choose it. If you ask me, it's so uncreative. But still better than  _Aquaman_." Arthur left his sandwich on the counter and frowned at Victor.

"Now, listen here, kid—"

While they were arguing over superhero identities, Barry was eating the rest of Arthur's sandwich with a huge grin on his face. Even though he'll need to avoid older man for the next few days, he didn't mind. 

Everything was nice at the moment. 

Barry hated fighting Rogues. Not only because they were a tight-knit group of criminals who were able to challenge him with their high quality guns and wit but also because he always thought he could make them see they could be so much better than this. Maybe Arthur was right, maybe Barry was too naïve for his own good. 

He massaged his aching shoulder and hissed. Cold got him good this time. He was so focused on Sam Scudder that he almost—

"Oh my God!" He turned around so fast that, everything slowed down for a second and his eyes searched for the danger, for a victim. But all he saw was two young girls, around his own age, looking at him with wide eyes. He relaxed and time went back to normal.

"Umm, hi?" He said nervously. Because a) talking to people, especially strangers weren't his forte b) talking to pretty girls, or girls in general, even less so. "Are you alright?" He asked to make sure they weren't injured.

"You are the Flash." Taller one with blonde wavy hair said with a huge grin on her, showing off her perfect teeth. 

"Yup, that's me." Barry said and smiled awkwardly. He didn't know where to put his hands so, he placed both of his hands on his hips. The girls looked at his face with strong awe and curiosity that only then he remembered he was supposed to vibrate his face or simply stay away from citizens and cameras, just in case. It was what Bats told him and even though Arthur called him a paranoid old man, Barry felt like he should follow Bruce's orders. He didn't have an underwater kingdom to hide from world or media. "Sorry, I got to go!"

He disappeared quickly. But not quick enough to avoid hearing girls commenting on his face (how nice his eyes and jaw were) or the shape of his ass. 

And no matter how much time passed, Barry still blushed every time he remembered that day. 

You know when heroes like Aquaman, Batman and Wonder Woman arrive, things are serious. That wasn't the case with the Flash. And it made sense because Barry didn't start fighting by stopping a world war. He didn't fight the most dangerous criminals like Joker. And he was definitely not an ancient being like Arthur. Before Bruce showed up out of nowhere and confronted him about his powers in the middle of his embarrassingly messy warehouse, Barry would stop some petty thieves and creepy men following young women late at night. And after becoming a member of a fancy superhero team (they were called Justice League, how cool was that?), Barry still kept keeping an eye on them. 

While he was collecting apples from the ground in a second, he thought this was his favorite part of being a hero. Fighting aliens and saving the world was nice, but being close to people and keeping your feet on the ground was even better. Barry Allen wasn't good at communication but the Flash didn't need that sort of contact. He could have great relationships with people without the need of talking to them. 

When he was done, he admired his work. He placed all the fruits that clumsy thief dropped when he was trying to run away from Barry (trying to outrun the Flash?!) and he actually did a pretty good job. 

He was about to turn around and leave in a flash (Arthur would actually hit him for saying this) when a hand grabbed his left wrist. He looked at the owner of the hand with a surprised expression. 

"Thank you." Old man, the owner of the shop, said shakily. "Thank you, young man."

"I—" Barry wasn't expected the direct contact nor the gratitude. Old man looked at him like how Barry himself looked at Clark when he was still some stranger alien with a huge S on his chest, saving people here and there. And that touched something deep in him. It gave him some sort of responsibility feeling. What they were doing, solo or as a team, meant so much to some people. And they owed these people to always stay true and fight for the right cause.

Barry gulped.

"You—Umm, you're welcome." He said back, not sounding as strong as he hoped. He wasn't like Bruce, he couldn't just avoid the old man and disappear in the darkness. And he definitely wasn't like Clark, he would plaster a polite smile on his face and talk to the crowd. But he meant every word he said. He was helping those people because it was the right thing to do. Simple as that. They didn’t need to thank him. 

That night, Barry looked at his suit and wondered what Central City citizens thought every time they saw the red streak and blue lightning. 

Of course, having Barry's terrible luck and expecting everything to go this well would be stupid. So, Barry shouldn't have been really surprised when he found himself in front of CCPD officers, raised their guns at him. Still, being the naïve, stupid person he was, he felt betrayed and hurt. He was only trying to help when Rogues tricked him into blowing up the half of CCPD. That little shit, Axel was living up to his villain name, Trickster. 

"Captain, I—" But Darryl Frye didn't listen to him. He pointed his gun right at the lightning symbol with a deep hatred on his face.

"I know you would be a trouble one day, Flash." He said angrily. "You masked vigilantes run around like you own the place. You are no hero, you are nothing but a spoiled reckless kid with too much power in his hands. That is what makes you even more dangerous than them." He pointed at the handcuffed Rogues with his chin. "you need to be stopped."

"But I was trying to help! It wasn't me, it was—"

"Enough!" Captain Frye didn't look like he was interested to hear Barry's side of the story. "You are under arrest."

"You can't do that!" Barry protested quickly, adding weakly after a second. "Can you?"

"Hey!" Both Frye and Barry's eyes turned to the owner of the voice. It was a tall, young black woman. She was wearing washed out jeans, a tight black t-shirt and a dark red shirt. "He is telling the truth."

"Yeah, we saw everything. He was trying to save us, it wasn't his fault." A young man around Barry's age came forward.

Darryl Frye and David Sigh looked at each other confusedly. They weren't expecting people to defend the vigilante. And Barry definitely wasn't expecting 15-20 people to come forward and stand between him and the cops. 

"Leave him alone!" A short girl with curly red hair yelled at them. 

"He is a vigilante!" Darry said angrily, frowning at the civilians. 

"He's done for some of us more than you ever did." The same black woman said again. While Barry was watching everything with a stupid expression on his face and wide eyes, short girl with red hair turned to him and waved her hand.

"Go, go!" Barry didn't mean what she said at first, he was far too confused.

"Huh?" Was all he could mutter.

"Run!" She said again, quickly looking over her shoulder. "We will distract them."

"You want to arrest the Red? Cool. You have to go through me first." A middle-aged man with muscular arms crossed them over his chest threateningly. 

"This is ridiculous!" Sigh said, his face turning red with anger and annoyance.

Barry knew the girl was right. And he was touched, really. No one ever tried to defend him from his bullies, no one ever stood up for him. This was so new, so nice that he could cry on the spot. But he couldn't let their efforts go waste by standing there like an idiot and get arrested by CCPD. So, he quickly waved at the young girl, hoping she would understand how much it meant to him.

"Thank you." And he meant it. He was grateful.

"No." She said firmly. "Thank  _you_."

"I can't believe those fools actually tried to arrest you!" Arthur snarled angrily, he looked like he was ready to punch someone... or the entire CCPD employees. Barry was forced to tell them what happened with CCPD last night because it was all over the news and it was something impossible to hide from Victor. 

As expected, Arthur was pissed.

"But guys," Barry said with wide eyes, huge grin and red cheeks, "you are missing the point."

"That CCPD tried to arrest you?" Victor said, raising his eyebrow.

"No!" Barry threw his hands in the air. "It's what happened afterwards."

"You ran away?" Arthur tried this time. Barry looked between them with an 'are you guys fucking serious' expression.

"They defended me!" He said finally when Arthur and Victor kept looking at him blankly. "People actually stood up for me. They protected me." Victor's face softened when he saw the look on Barry's face. He could understand why it meant so much to Barry.

"Of course they did." He grinned. "You are their hero."

A hero.

Barry never thought he would be someone's hero let alone so many people's. And he never thought he could feel like he belonged to somewhere, someone. But now, Central City was his home, truly this time. And these people... He was responsible of them in a way. And he belonged to them. They accepted him like he's one of them. 

Barry Allen might not have so many friends. Barry Allen might be invisible to people.

But the Flash was a friend of every Central City citizen. And Scarlet Speedster was their beloved hero

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr: lanthimo
> 
> Fun fact: Central City citizens did really put themselves in front of Barry to protect him from Edward Nygma


End file.
